Just an example of why some people are somewhat skeptical that an immediate and sweeping change to everything we do (rush to judgement to put it another way) may simply not be necessary....until all the information is in.
I have read on this very board that not only are hurricanes of late more prevelant but that climate change is DIRECTLY responsible for the ferocity as well. I argued against this assertion right after Katrina when passion was at it highest. (for a very good reason)
Not saying anything like "there is no climate change/global warming"...because there is. What I still believe, along with a myriad of scientists in various disciplines, is that a warming trend on this planet is quite possibly nothing more than history repeating itself....for the umpteenth time.
No one is or can be 100% certain that man has caused the most recent event, but so many say they are. That's why this whole debate has become so polorized.
So much more needed to be learned before we can know one way or another....and sacificing thousands and thousands of livlihoods before we know for sure could be so more detrimental than waiting til we have the proof.
This guy would be the first to admit as much, although the article also includes detractors to his theory...which is par for the course on this debate at any level. My favorite quote is the last one however...makes the whole thing a bit easier to dicuss.
Quote:
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Another group of experts, those who study hurricanes and who are more often skeptical about global warming, say there is no link. They attribute the recent increase to a natural multi-decade cycle.
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Quote:
What makes this study different is Knutson, a meteorologist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fluid dynamics lab in Princeton, N.J.
He has warned about the harmful effects of climate change and has even complained in the past about being censored by the Bush administration on past studies on the dangers of global warming.
He said his new study, based on a computer model, argues "against the notion that we've already seen a really dramatic increase in Atlantic hurricane activity resulting from greenhouse warming."
The number of hurricanes making landfall in the United States and its neighbors -- anywhere west of Puerto Rico -- will drop by 30 percent because of wind factors.
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MIT hurricane meteorologist Kerry Emanuel, while praising Knutson as a scientist, called his conclusion "demonstrably wrong" based on a computer model that doesn't look properly at storms.
Kevin Trenberth, a climate scientist, said Knutson's computer model is poor at assessing tropical weather and "fail to replicate storms with any kind of fidelity."
Trenberth, climate analysis chief at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo., said it is not just the number of hurricanes "that matter, it is also the intensity, duration and size, and this study falls short on these issues
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Quote:
But NOAA hurricane meteorologist Chris Landsea, who wasn't part of this study, praised Knutson's work as "very consistent with what's being said all along."
"I think global warming is a big concern, but when it comes to hurricanes the evidence for changes is pretty darn tiny," Landsea said.
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http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/0...g-climate.html
Global Warming May Reduce Hurricanes...says this scientist
